“Yoo
hoo!” I greeted the neighbour as cheerily as I did the previous day, as
he appeared on the terrace that evening.

“Yooo hooo!” He
reciprocated with the same enthusiasm. “Now, did you have two horns
yesterday or you grew one more today?” He asked me with a malicious
gleam in his eyes.

I glared at him and vowed to break a few more
of his window panes as early as I could. But now, I had other
important things in mind. My eyes scanned the entire house of the
neighbour, carefully noting where the sunshade ended and also the usual
position taken by the cats. There was no window shade right under that
area and the closest one was just under the broken window pane. I
decided that if I shouted loudly enough, it would still scare the
cats. I may have to repeat the procedure for a day or two more, but I
was sure it would do.

Strangely enough, that night, the dogs
did not break into a relentless staccato of yaps at the sound of the
cats. They seemed to wait for me and even encouraged me with a few
whoofs to climb up the wall. Slowly, ever so slowly I lifted myself
onto the sunshade. The cats were about ten feet away from where I was
crouching. Slowly, slower than my slow ascend onto the sunshade, I
straightened myself up and arched back to bellow a full blooded “BOO”.
As my body arched and then straightened with the springiness of a coiled
spring and the “BOO” was half way out of my mouth, I saw out of the
corner of the eye, a figure clad in black clothes with its head covered,
get up from the other side of the parapet of the terrace. This figure
appeared so close to me that it was the scariest thing to happen to a
man who believed in ghosts, devils and other alien beings. I flung
myself around and screamed the entire “BOO” right on the ghost like
figure’s face. The creature let out a screech with exactly the same
intensity and tone as the “EAAAOOOOHHHHWW” I heard on the day I broke
the window pane. I did not wait to see what happened to the ghost after
it was hit by my “BOO”. I was sure I heard a loud thud, again, very
similar to the thud I heard on the day I broke the window pane.

I
jumped back onto the compound wall, down to the ground and was about to
race back into the house, when this explosion and brilliantly lit
bright light appeared in my head again. And as was their practice, they
went off as fast as they came in and me, flat on the ground
unconscious.

I woke with the same heaviness in my head. The
last three days of practice had not gotten me used to it, but it only
got heavier. On careful examination of the concerned area, I found I
had three lumps on the forehead and one on the back side of my head
too. As I opened my eyes wider and let in more light, more pictures
started to appear before me. They were in the shape of my mother,
sister and the neighbour. The neighbour was wearing the black dress
which I recognized as the one worn by this ghostly apparition on the
terrace. I was very amused to see that the neighbour also had unicorn
like protrusions on the back of his head. In fact, I liked it so much
that I burst out laughing. I was so happy that he who was callous
enough to throw stones at the neighbour’s house on mere suspicion that a
stone may have arrived from there, is suffering the same way as I did.

“What
are you laughing at?” He spat out the question with a murderous
intent, but it was lost on me, because I was busy laughing.

“You
look like a secretary bird, with that tuft of hair at the back.” I
continued laughing

“And you look like a Triceratops with two
extra horns at the back.” He quipped back.

“Shut up, both of
you. Pray tell me what happened?” My mother got in between us.

“I was
sleeping when someone threw a stone at my window and broke the
glass. I came to the terrace and was hit by another stone. I do not
think that it was the same stone that hit my window that hit my
forehead, but a different one, which accounts for this lump on the
forehead. Since that night, I would peep out of the broken window pane
every night, to see if any one threw more stones. Yesterday, I saw a
figure clamber on top of your compound wall, while I was peeping through
the hole. So I crept out of the room, crawled myself up to the parapet
of the terrace and got up to see who was on the other side, when this
figure sprung up and yelled “BOO” at me.

I
jumped about five feet high
in the air before falling flat on my back; my back side of the head hit
the floor which accounts for the other lump on the back of the head.
Upon standing up, I saw this figure jumping back into your compound and I
threw a stone at him. Only after it fell down and all of you descended
on the scene did I realise that it was this idiot who broke my window
pane, threw a stone on my head, scared me stiff with a “BOO” and caused
me to fall down. I do not understand why this clown climbed up on my
terrace and scared me with a ‘BOO”.

“I thought you were a
cat,” I ventured my opinion.

“WHAT?!”

“I meant I was
going to scare the cats on your terrace with a loud
“BOO”, but you got in between the cats and the “BOO”.

“You got
onto my terrace to scare a cat?”

“Two cats”

“Two
cats?”

“Yes, two cats”

“You mean to say that it is
alright to jump on to a stranger’s house to
scare off a few cats, when you could have done the same standing in your
compound?”

“My dogs have been trying to shoo off the cats with
the loudest form of
barks, but to no avail. So I thought it was best to get as close to the
cats as possible.”

“He is lying about the cats. I have never
seen any cat in my compound.
He probably got into my house for something else.”

“I think so
too. I have never seen any cats around here.” My sister
added her two pence.

“NO, NO, the cats were there. You could
check with the dogs, if you
want. Or you could wait till 11 p.m. tonight and see for yourself.”

But the cats never ever turned up at that spot again. The “BOO”
must
have scared them away for good. The dogs too have given up barking in
the night but the entire episode wrecked the neighbour’s sleep
permanently. The entire terrace was brightly lit every night from the
next day onwards, to prevent me from springing any more surprise
“BOOS”. Every now and then, I would see him prowling on the terrace, in
the night or peeping out of the hole in the window pane which he never
repaired. In fact, my neighbour had completely lost his marbles. I
would also occasionally see him stare into the darkness, probably
looking for those cats, which probably chose another place very far away
to shout at each other.

My mother and sister have not given
up asking me why I jumped on to his
house and do not believe that there ever were any cats in the entire
neighbourhood. They still believe that nights don’t get more silent
than the ones in their precinct.

“It is so peaceful here, in
the night. So silent that you could hear an
ant burp.”